Some of these schools date back to the 19th century;others are more recent additions,aimed at retaining gifted students in the public system and offering some competition for independent schools.
Getting into the state’s top school,North Sydney Boys’,should not require thousands being spent on tutoring.James Brickwood
Yet somewhere along the way the selective system has triggered an arms race,fuelled by the tutoring industry serving only those who can afford it.
Governments from the late 1980s increased the number of selective schools and,particularly this century,added selective classes to comprehensive schools. Now there are 21 fully selective and 26 partially selective public high schools in NSW. Entry to them,especially the top handful,is the academic equivalent of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.
And we all know the monsters those golden tickets begot.
Every school in thesits on the 99th percentile on the index of community socio-educational advantage. Five are public selective schools – North Sydney Girls and Boys,James Ruse Agricultural,Baulkham Hills and Normanhurst Boys high schools – and five are independent.
The difference,on the surface,is that independent schools cost parents tens of thousands of dollars a year. The selective schools have nominal fees – but,as we reported recently,parents are forking out on tutoring colleges to get their children into the top selectives and then to keep their child ahead of class lessons.
So where does that leave the gifted child whose parents cannot afford private school or extensive tutoring?
It’s hard to tell. The department no longer publishes selective school cut-off marks – that is the mark required to get in to each selective school. It changed the test to make it less coachable. It created equity places so children from disadvantaged backgrounds could find a way in. TheHerald applauds these efforts.
But the problem with opacity is that it breeds fear of missing out. Coaching colleges then prey on that fear and the cycle continues.
As Sydney’s population swells,a proportionatelyis needed to cater to genuinely gifted children. Much thought needs to be given to how we do that.
Australian Tutoring Association president Mohan Dhall says selective schools should increase their enrolments alongside population growth. But,he said,additional places should go to the “equity” cohort – students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“It would go a long way to addressing inequity in the selective system and it would reduce the tutoring effect,” Dhall said.
Adrian Piccoli,the state’s former education minister,says Sydney’s selective schools should not grow with population,but rather selective streams in more comprehensive schools are the way forward.
“Just because the population has grown,I don’t think it is a good idea to increase the number of selective schools,” he said. “Selective streams within a school are a much better model. That’s better than pulling a student out from their local school and putting them somewhere in an entirely different school.”
The Herald thinks Piccoli is right. While specialist selective schools have their place,as Sydney grows and a proportionately larger number of gifted children need to be catered for,it is better to spread them among more schools. Those very bright students then raise the standard at their local school.
Because you shouldn’t need a golden ticket to ride in the great glass elevator to a better education.
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